Is there a way to prevent students from playing games on the laptop when they are supposed to be working?

You can set up parental control’s through your settings and look for your accounts settings or family ect. Your internet service provider or technician can help you with that.

Settings can be set for no game sites !

Or limited time on game sites.

Or only after 5 PM

There are also apps you can use to monitor and control their activity. Net Nanny is one we used to use. It notified us if they even tried to access a forbidden website or download an app without our involvement.

What sort of games? Online? There’s “stayfocused” for Chrome:

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stayfocusd/laankejkbhbdhmipfmgcngdelahlfoji?hl=en

Give them a corresponding parental report and grade.

A non-software method is to set up homework areas visible to passing parents. Don’t let them hide in their rooms or in the basement. That’s how we did it.

Ultimately @RocketGuy‘s solution is the best because kids are resourceful and like a challenge. They may be able to get around whatever controls you put on the computers.

My neighbors rearranged their den so everybody’s computer is lined up along one wall. The adult’s computers are on each end with the 2 kid’s computers in the middle. The children aren’t allowed to touch their computer unless an adult is present to supervise them. Then mom and dad gets on theirs and the kids think they aren’t paying attention and that’s when mom or dad or both look over to see what they are doing. Keeps the kids on their toes because they never know when either of the parents are going to look at their screen. I asked the mom how she stood having to be present for every session and she admitted that it is a pain in the ass but she says it gives her peace of mind that they aren’t doing things that they shouldn’t and that they aren’t talking to pedophiles who will harm them or worse